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138-473: On March 8, 2011, Barack Obama visited TechBoston to speak on winning the future through education. In his speech, President Obama stated: “Every day, TechBoston is proving that no matter who you are, or what you look like, or where you come from, every child can learn. Every child can succeed. And every child deserves that chance.” In 2006, 92% of the first graduating class went to college as compared to 63% of Boston Public School students. The 54 members of

276-628: A Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and later worked as a community organizer in Chicago . In 1988, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School , where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review . He became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. In 1996, Obama was elected to represent

414-541: A Juris Doctor magna cum laude . University of Chicago Law School In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book. He then taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004. From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote ,

552-408: A Master of Philosophy in politics at Oxford in 1983. In 1983, at age 23, Kagan entered Harvard Law School . Her adjustment to Harvard's atmosphere was challenging—she received the worst grades of her entire law school career in her first semester. Kagan went on to earn an A in 17 of the 21 courses she took at Harvard, and she became a supervisory editor of the Harvard Law Review . She worked as

690-542: A junior , where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations and in English literature and lived off-campus on West 109th Street. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7 GPA . After graduating, Obama worked for about a year at the Business International Corporation , where he was a financial researcher and writer, then as a project coordinator for

828-506: A summer associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990. Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations, which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father . Obama graduated from Harvard Law in 1991 with

966-542: A voter registration campaign with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be. In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family : "It's like a little mini-United Nations," he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac , and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher ." Obama has

1104-479: A "confirmed atheist " by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful." Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change." In January 2008, Obama told Christianity Today : "I am a Christian, and I am

1242-811: A "pragmatic progressive". On the Court, she favored a consensus-building approach until the conservative supermajority's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade . After Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization she became publicly critical of the Court's rightward shift. She voted with the liberal bloc in King v. Burwell , 576 U.S. 988 (2015), finding that Obamacare 's subsidies and individual mandate are constitutional, and in Obergefell v. Hodges , 576 U.S. 644 (2015), which prohibits states from banning same-sex marriage . In 2018, Slate observed that Kagan had crossed ideological lines on multiple cases during

1380-554: A 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004. In 1994, he was listed as one of the lawyers in Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank , 94 C 4094 (N.D. Ill.). This class action lawsuit was filed in 1994 with Selma Buycks-Roberson as lead plaintiff and alleged that Citibank Federal Savings Bank had engaged in practices forbidden under

1518-539: A First Amendment case, Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn , 563 U.S. 125 (2011). Writing for the Court's liberal wing, she objected to the majority's creating an exception to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The majority held that Arizona taxpayers cannot challenge tax credits for those who donate to groups that provide scholarships to religious schools, drawing

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1656-725: A Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program , providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries. Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations , Environment and Public Works , and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006. In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs . He also became Chairman of

1794-421: A Supreme Court analyst and Kagan's friend and law school classmate, speculated that she would be Obama's nominee, describing her as "very much an Obama-type person, a moderate Democrat, a consensus builder". This alarmed some liberals and progressives, who worried that "replacing Stevens with Kagan risks moving the Court to the right, perhaps substantially to the right". On May 10, 2010, Obama nominated Kagan to

1932-506: A basis for the values that I hold most dear." Obama has also written and talked about using alcohol , marijuana , and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind". Obama was also a member of the "Choom Gang" (the slang term for smoking marijuana), a self-named group of friends who spent time together and smoked marijuana. College and research jobs After graduating from high school in 1979, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College on

2070-506: A broad audience. In one such opinion, Kagan wrote for the majority in Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC , a 6–3 decision in favor of Marvel , holding that a patentee cannot receive royalties after the patent expires. In doing so, she included several references to Spider-Man . Kagan is generally regarded as a centrist. After her nomination to the Court, White House officials, worried she would be seen as too centrist by liberals, called her

2208-675: A community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988. He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens . Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation , a community organizing institute. In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for

2346-498: A consensus-building leadership style that defused the school's previous ideological discord. As dean, Kagan inherited a $ 400 million capital campaign, "Setting the Standard," in 2003. It ended in 2008 with a record-breaking $ 476 million raised, 19% more than the original goal. Kagan made a number of prominent new hires, increasing the size of the faculty considerably. Her coups included hiring legal scholar Cass Sunstein away from

2484-612: A court could freeze a defendant's assets pretrial, including funds obtained through the alleged sale of drugs, even when those assets were being used to hire an attorney. The majority sought to distinguish their holding in Luis from Monsanto based upon the nature of the funds being frozen; Luis's funds were not directly linked to her crime and Monsanto's funds were. Kennedy dissented in Luis because he did not think criminal defendants should be treated differently based on how quickly they spent their illegal proceeds. Kagan agreed with Kennedy that

2622-522: A decade in the minority, regained a majority. He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations. During his 2004 general election campaign for the U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms. Obama resigned from

2760-647: A decision that drew both criticism and praise. His first-term actions addressed the 2007–2008 financial crisis and included the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 , a major stimulus package to guide the economy in recovering from the Great Recession ; a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts ; legislation to reform health care ; the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ,

2898-459: A devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ . I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life." On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views, saying: I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in

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3036-420: A distinction between the way the Court treats tax credits and grants. Kagan deemed this distinction "arbitrary" because tax credits and grants can be used to achieve the same objectives. She viewed the majority's decision as creating a loophole for governments to fund religion. In another Establishment Clause case, Town of Greece v. Galloway , 572 U.S. 565 (2014), Kagan wrote a dissent arguing that

3174-561: A female. Bo died of cancer on May 8, 2021. Obama is a supporter of the Chicago White Sox , and he threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator. In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the All-Star Game while wearing a White Sox jacket. He is also primarily a Chicago Bears football fan in the NFL , but in his childhood and adolescence was a fan of

3312-546: A field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine . At the Democratic National Convention in Denver , Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in his support. Obama delivered his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High stadium to a crowd of about eighty-four thousand;

3450-546: A full scholarship. In February 1981, Obama made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to participate in the disinvestment from South Africa in response to that nation's policy of apartheid . In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half-sister Maya and visited the families of college friends in Pakistan for three weeks. Later in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City as

3588-625: A half years, supplemented by English-language Calvert School homeschooling by his mother. As a result of his four years in Jakarta , he was able to speak Indonesian fluently as a child. During his time in Indonesia, Obama's stepfather taught him to be resilient and gave him "a pretty hardheaded assessment of how the world works". In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham . He attended Punahou School —a private college preparatory school —with

3726-701: A half-sister with whom he was raised (Maya Soetoro-Ng) and seven other half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living. Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham, until her death on November 2, 2008, two days before his election to the presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011. In Dreams from My Father , Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis , President of

3864-513: A household income of $ 5.5   million—up from about $ 4.2   million in 2007 and $ 1.6   million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books. On his 2010 income of $ 1.7   million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $ 131,000 to Fisher House Foundation , a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments. Per his 2012 financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $ 10   million. Obama

4002-405: A law that increased tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform , and promoted increased subsidies for childcare. In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor George Ryan 's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures . He was reelected to

4140-760: A major financial regulation reform bill; and the end of the Iraq War . Obama also appointed Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan , the former being the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. He ordered Operation Neptune Spear , the raid that killed Osama bin Laden , who was responsible for the September 11 attacks . Obama downplayed Bush's counterinsurgency model, expanding air strikes and making extensive use of special forces, while encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. He also ordered

4278-592: A policy adviser under President Bill Clinton . After a nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit , which expired without action, she became a professor at Harvard Law School and was later named its first female dean . In 2009, Kagan became the first female solicitor general of the United States . The following year, President Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court to fill

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4416-470: A position as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. While there, she authored a law review article on United States administrative law , focusing on the president's role in formulating and influencing federal administrative law. The article was honored as the year's top scholarly article by the American Bar Association 's Section on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. In 2001, Kagan

4554-509: A prayer at a town council meeting failed to treat all Americans the same regardless of religion. Greece involved a town in New York inviting chaplains, for several years all Christian, to give a prayer before town council meetings. Unlike Marsh v. Chambers , 463 U.S. 783 (1983), in which the Supreme Court allowed a state legislature to open with a prayer, Kagan noted the board in Greece

4692-644: A special counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee . During this time, she worked on Ruth Bader Ginsburg 's Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Kagan became a tenured professor of law in 1995. According to her colleagues, Kagan's students complimented and admired her from the beginning, and she was granted tenure "despite the reservations of some colleagues who thought she had not published enough". Kagan served as Associate White House Counsel for Bill Clinton from 1995 to 1996, when Mikva served as White House Counsel. She worked on such issues affecting

4830-481: A summer associate at the Wall Street law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson , where she worked in the litigation department. She graduated in 1986 with a Juris Doctor , magna cum laude . Her friend Jeffrey Toobin recalled that Kagan "stood out from the start as one with a formidable mind. She's good with people. At the time, the law school was a politically charged and divided place. She navigated

4968-684: A third time and worked for the Kenyan government as the Senior Economic Analyst in the Ministry of Finance. He visited his son in Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971, before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old. Recalling his early childhood, Obama said: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind." He described his struggles as

5106-403: A third-floor apartment at West End Avenue and 75th Street, and attended Lincoln Square Synagogue . She was independent and strong-willed in her youth and, according to a former law partner of her father's, clashed with her Orthodox rabbi , Shlomo Riskin , over aspects of her bat mitzvah . "She had strong opinions about what a bat mitzvah should be like, which didn't parallel the wishes of

5244-449: A young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. In 1963, Dunham met Lolo Soetoro at the University of Hawaii ; he was an Indonesian East–West Center graduate student in geography . The couple married on Molokai on March 15, 1965. After two one-year extensions of his J-1 visa , Lolo returned to Indonesia in 1966. His wife and stepson followed sixteen months later in 1967. The family initially lived in

5382-471: Is a Protestant Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote in The Audacity of Hope that he "was not raised in a religious household." He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as being detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person   ... I have ever known", and "a lonely witness for secular humanism ." He described his father as

5520-551: Is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party , he was the first African-American president in U.S. history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004. Obama was born in Honolulu , Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with

5658-728: Is left-handed. In 2005, the Obama family applied the proceeds of a book deal and moved from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $ 1.6   million house (equivalent to $ 2.5   million in 2023) in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago . The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko —attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama. In December 2007, Money Magazine estimated Obama's net worth at $ 1.3   million (equivalent to $ 1.9   million in 2023). Their 2009 tax return showed

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5796-437: Is not hearing cases. In her first four years on the Court, she made at least 20 public appearances. Kagan tends to choose speaking engagements that allow her to speak to students. Time magazine named Kagan one of its Time 100 most influential people for 2013. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote the article on Kagan, calling her "an incisive legal thinker" and "excellent communicator". That same year,

5934-507: Is not to endorse it." As an undergraduate, Kagan also served as editorial chair of The Daily Princetonian . Along with eight other students, she penned a "Declaration of the Campaign for a Democratic University". It called for "a fundamental restructuring of university governance" and condemned Princeton's administration for making decisions "behind closed doors". Despite the liberal tone of The Daily Princetonian ' s editorials, Kagan

6072-551: Is one of the three United States senators moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House, the others being Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy . On April 4, 2011, Obama filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission and then announced his reelection campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his website. As the incumbent president, he ran virtually unopposed in

6210-447: Is pictured in a judge's robe and holding a gavel . Next to the photo is a quotation from former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter : "Government is itself an art, one of the subtlest of arts." Kagan attended Hunter College High School , where her mother taught. The school had a reputation as one of the most elite learning institutions for high school girls and attracted students from all over New York City. Kagan emerged as one of

6348-566: The 2011 military intervention in Libya to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 , contributing to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi . Obama defeated Republican opponent Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election . In his second term, Obama took steps to combat climate change , signing the Paris Agreement , a major international climate agreement, and an executive order to limit carbon emissions . Obama also presided over

6486-491: The Associated Press reported that Obama was considering Kagan, among others. On May 26, 2009, Obama announced that he had chosen Sonia Sotomayor . On April 9, 2010, Justice John Paul Stevens announced he would retire at the start of the Court's summer 2010 recess, triggering new speculation about potential replacements, and Kagan was once again considered a contender. In a Fresh Dialogues interview, Jeffrey Toobin ,

6624-563: The Book of Ruth on a Friday night . She now practices Conservative Judaism . Kagan's childhood friend Margaret Raymond recalled that she was a teenage smoker but not a partier. On Saturday nights, Raymond and Kagan were "more apt to sit on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and talk." Kagan also loved literature and reread Jane Austen 's Pride and Prejudice every year. In her 1977 Hunter College High School yearbook, she

6762-781: The Clinton Library . Kagan coauthored a 1997 memo urging Clinton to support a ban on late-term abortions : "We recommend that you endorse the Daschle amendment in order to sustain your credibility on HR 1122 and prevent Congress from overriding your veto." On June 17, 1999, Clinton nominated Kagan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit , to replace James L. Buckley , who took senior status in 1996. The Senate Judiciary Committee 's Republican Chairman, Orrin Hatch , scheduled no hearing, effectively ending her nomination. When

6900-526: The Defense of Marriage Act , pursuant to which states were not required to recognize same-sex marriages originating in other states, "if there is any reasonable basis to do so". The Senate confirmed her on March 19, 2009, by a vote of 61 to 31. She was the first woman to hold the position. Upon taking office, Kagan pledged to defend any statute as long as there was a colorable argument to be made, regardless of her personal opinions. As Solicitor General, Kagan's job

7038-615: The Democratic Party presidential primaries , and on April 3, 2012, Obama secured the 2778 convention delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination. At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina , Obama and Joe Biden were formally nominated by former President Bill Clinton as the Democratic Party candidates for president and vice president in the general election. Their main opponents were Republicans Mitt Romney ,

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7176-630: The Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor. In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act , which was signed into law in September 2007. Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to

7314-822: The Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Fair Housing Act . The case was settled out of court. From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago —which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project—and of the Joyce Foundation . He served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of

7452-689: The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 , which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending. On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with Senators Tom Carper , Tom Coburn , and John McCain —introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008. He also cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act . In December 2006, President Bush signed into law

7590-749: The New York Public Interest Research Group on the City College of New York campus for three months in 1985. Community organizer and Harvard Law School Two years after graduating from Columbia, Obama moved from New York to Chicago when he was hired as director of the Developing Communities Project , a faith-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland , West Pullman , and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side . He worked there as

7728-513: The South Side of Chicago in 2021. Historians and political scientists rank Obama among the upper tier in historical rankings of American presidents . Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu , Hawaii. He is the only president born outside the contiguous 48 states . He was born to an 18-year-old American mother and a 27-year-old Kenyan father. His mother, Ann Dunham (1942–1995),

7866-471: The University of Chicago and Lawrence Lessig away from Stanford . She also made an effort to hire conservative scholars, such as former Bush administration official Jack Goldsmith , for the traditionally liberal-leaning faculty. According to Kevin Washburn , then dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law , Kagan transformed Harvard Law School from a harsh environment for students to one that

8004-445: The strict scrutiny standard of review. In a footnote, Kagan set forth a new principle, that congressional districts drawn with race as the dominant factor may be found to be an unlawful racial gerrymander even if they have another goal, such as sorting voters by political affiliation. Applying this principle to the facts of the case, the Court unanimously struck down North Carolina's District 1 , where state lawmakers had increased

8142-472: The "spark" back into his opinions as the Court had been undergoing a conservative shift since William Rehnquist became Chief Justice in 1986. Marshall nicknamed the 5-foot-3-inch (1.60-metre) Kagan "Shorty". From 1989 to 1991, Kagan was in private practice at the Washington, D.C. , law firm Williams & Connolly . As a junior associate, she drafted briefs and conducted discovery. During her short time at

8280-478: The 13th district in the Illinois Senate , a position he held until 2004, when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate . In the 2008 presidential election , after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton , he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate and defeated Republican nominee John McCain . Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ,

8418-403: The 78 cases heard during her first year on the Court to avoid conflicts of interest. She recused herself again, due to similar conflicts of interests, in the 2017 immigrant-detention case Jennings v. Rodriguez , as she had authorized a filing in the case as solicitor general. Kagan's first opinion as a justice, Ransom v. FIA Card Services , was in a statutory interpretation case. The issue

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8556-612: The BPS district average of 95%. TBA 10th graders also scored higher than the BPS average in 2012 on both the Mathematics and Science/Tech MCAS exams. Ninety-two percent of graduating seniors in 2012 entered post-secondary education, with 66.7% attending four-year colleges. This Massachusetts school-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961)

8694-399: The Clinton administration as the Whitewater controversy , the White House travel office controversy , and Clinton v. Jones . From 1997 to 1999, she worked as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council. Kagan worked on topics like budget appropriations, campaign finance reform, and social welfare issues. Her work is catalogued in

8832-517: The Confederate States of America during the American Civil War . He also shares distant ancestors in common with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney , among others. Obama lived with anthropologist Sheila Miyoshi Jager while he was a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s. He proposed to her twice, but both Jager and her parents turned him down. The relationship was not made public until May 2017, several months after his presidency had ended. In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he

8970-410: The Court to uphold a 1990 precedent that allowed the government to restrict corporations' use of their treasuries to campaign for or against political candidates. As an alternative argument, Kagan further contended that if the Court would not uphold precedent, it should keep its ruling narrowly focused on corporations that resembled the petitioning organization, Citizens United , rather than reconsidering

9108-419: The Court's decision created inequity and drew an arbitrary distinction, but further opined that Monsanto might have been wrongly decided. She suggested she would be willing to overturn such precedent in the future, but declined to do so in the case at bar because Luis had not sought that relief. Her vote thus rested on procedural grounds as she expressed skepticism that the government should be able to freeze

9246-425: The Court, Kagan did not write any separate opinions, and wrote the fewest opinions of any justice. She wrote only majority opinions or dissents that more senior justices assigned to her, and in which she and a group of justices agreed upon a rationale for deciding the case. This tendency to write for a group rather than herself made it difficult to discern her own views or where she might lean in future cases. She wrote

9384-402: The Court. Kagan was born and raised in New York City. After graduating from Princeton University , Worcester College, Oxford , and Harvard Law School , she clerked for a federal Court of Appeals judge and for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall . She began her career as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School , leaving to serve as Associate White House Counsel , and later as

9522-416: The Court’s duty to declare the law, this was not the one. The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the Court’s role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections. With respect but deep sadness, I dissent." Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor joined her dissent. In Brnovich v. DNC , Kagan wrote the dissenting opinion and

9660-500: The Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges. This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008. He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which was never enacted but later incorporated in the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 ; and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism. Obama also sponsored

9798-423: The Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900–1933". In it she wrote, "Through its own internal feuding, then, the SP [Socialist Party] exhausted itself forever. The story is a sad but also a chastening one for those who, more than half a century after socialism's decline, still wish to change America." Wilentz says Kagan did not mean to defend socialism, noting that she "was interested in it. To study something

9936-510: The Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was re-elected again in 2002. In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary race for Illinois's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one. In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after

10074-621: The Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate. In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race. He created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002. Obama formally announced his candidacy in January 2003. Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq . On October 2, 2002,

10212-726: The Menteng Dalam neighborhood in the Tebet district of South Jakarta . From 1970, they lived in a wealthier neighborhood in the Menteng district of Central Jakarta . At the age of six, Obama and his mother had moved to Indonesia to join his stepfather. From age six to ten, he was registered in school as "Barry" and attended local Indonesian-language schools: Sekolah Dasar Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School) for two years and Sekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng 01 (State Elementary School Menteng 01) for one and

10350-414: The Obama family has attended several Protestant churches, including Shiloh Baptist Church and St. John's Episcopal Church , as well as Evergreen Chapel at Camp David , but the members of the family do not attend church on a regular basis. In 2016, Obama said that he gets inspiration from a few items that remind him "of all the different people I've met along the way", adding: "I carry these around all

10488-619: The Pittsburgh Steelers and rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after he took office as president. In 2011, Obama invited the 1985 Chicago Bears to the White House; the team had not visited the White House after their Super Bowl win in 1986 due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster . He plays basketball , a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team, and he

10626-661: The Senate term ended, her nomination lapsed, as did that of fellow Clinton nominee Allen Snyder . After her service in the White House and her lapsed judicial nomination, Kagan returned to academia in 1999. She initially sought to return to the University of Chicago, but she had given up her tenured position during her extended stint in the Clinton Administration, and the school chose not to rehire her, reportedly due to doubts about her commitment to academia. Kagan quickly found

10764-702: The Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs . As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before Abbas became President of the Palestinian National Authority and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi in which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government. Obama resigned his Senate seat on November 16, 2008, to focus on his transition period for

10902-557: The Supreme Court's ruling in R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul ; an article discussing the significance of governmental motive in regulating speech; and a review of a book by Stephen L. Carter discussing the judicial confirmation process. In the first article, which became highly influential, Kagan argued that the Supreme Court should examine governmental motives when deciding First Amendment cases and analyzed historic draft-card burning and flag burning cases in light of free speech arguments. In 1993, Senator Joe Biden appointed Kagan as

11040-421: The Supreme Court. The deans of over one-third of the country's law schools, 69 people in total, endorsed the nomination in an open letter in early June. It lauded what it called her coalition-building skills and "understanding of both doctrine and policy" as well as her written record of legal analysis. Kagan's confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee began on June 28. As they began, Kagan

11178-564: The aid of a scholarship from fifth grade until he graduated from high school in 1979. In high school, Obama continued to use the nickname "Barry" which he kept until making a visit to Kenya in 1980. Obama lived with his mother and half-sister, Maya Soetoro , in Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Hawaii. Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin anthropology field work. His mother spent most of

11316-540: The assets of a criminal defendant not yet convicted, and thus still benefiting from the presumption of innocence, by merely showing probable cause that the property will be subject to forfeiture. Kagan wrote for the majority in Cooper v. Harris , 581 U.S. ___ (2017), striking down the configuration of two of North Carolina's congressional districts . The Court held the districts' boundaries were unconstitutional because they relied excessively on race and did not pass

11454-541: The board of directors from 1995 to 1999. Obama's law license became inactive in 2007. Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding Democratic State Senator Alice Palmer from Illinois's 13th District , which, at that time, spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park–Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn . Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws. He sponsored

11592-614: The church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me . Obama met Trinity United Church of Christ pastor Jeremiah Wright in October 1987 and became a member of Trinity in 1992. During Obama's first presidential campaign in May 2008, he resigned from Trinity after some of Wright's statements were criticized . Since moving to Washington, D.C., in 2009,

11730-472: The class of 2006 received just over $ 1,000,000 in scholarships and financial aid. In 2010, 93% of the graduating class went to college as compared to 61% of Boston Public School students. The 66 members of the class of 2010 received over $ 2,000,000 in scholarships and financial aid. In 2012, 100% of TechBoston Academy 10th grade students (tested) passed the English Language Arts MCAS, compared to

11868-413: The coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties." Elena Kagan Elena Kagan ( / ˈ k eɪ ɡ ə n / KAY -guhn ; born April 28, 1960) is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States . She was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and is the fourth woman to serve on

12006-783: The constitutionality of broader restrictions on corporate campaign finance. In a 5–4 decision, the Court overturned precedent and allowed corporations to spend freely in elections, a major defeat for the Obama administration. During her 15 months as Solicitor General, Kagan argued six cases before the Supreme Court. The Washington Post described her style during argument as "confident" and "conversational". She helped win four cases: Salazar v. Buono , 559 U.S. 700 (2010), United States v. Comstock , 560 U.S. 126 (2010), Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project , 561 U.S. 1 (2010), and Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board , 561 U.S. 477 (2010). Before Obama's election, Kagan

12144-554: The crucial tool to achieve that goal. That law, of all laws, deserves the sweep and power Congress gave it. That law, of all laws, should not be diminished by this Court." Joined by Justices Breyer and Sotomayor, Kagan dissented in West Virginia v. EPA , which struck down the proposed Clean Power Plan . She wrote, "It is EPA (that's the Environmental Protection Agency, in case the majority forgot) acting to address

12282-485: The day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War , Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally , and spoke out against the war. He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd "it's not too late" to stop the war. Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun not to participate in

12420-483: The defendant's choosing. The defendant, Sila Luis, had been charged with Medicare fraud, in which prosecutors alleged he illegally charged $ 45 million for unneeded services. The prosecutors asked a judge to freeze $ 2 million of Luis's assets, which Luis said she needed to pay legal bills, after she had already spent most of the $ 45 million she made from the alleged scheme. An earlier Supreme Court case, United States v. Monsanto , 491 U.S. 600 (1989), held that

12558-398: The election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving 15 candidates. In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party , started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir, Dreams from My Father . In July 2004, Obama delivered

12696-439: The factions with ease, and won the respect of everyone." After law school, Kagan was a law clerk for judge Abner J. Mikva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1987 to 1988. She became one of Mikva's favorite clerks; he called her "the pick of the litter". From 1988 to 1989, Kagan clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court . Marshall said he hired Kagan to help him put

12834-411: The fewest opinions for the terms from 2011 through 2014, tying with Kennedy in 2011 and 2013. Kagan's writing has been characterized as conversational, employing a range of rhetorical styles. She has said that she approaches writing on the Court like she used to approach the classroom, with numerous strategies to engage the reader. Her opinions use examples and analogies to make them more accessible to

12972-404: The firm, she handled five lawsuits that involved First Amendment or media law issues and libel issues. In 1991, Kagan became an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School . While there she first met Barack Obama , a guest lecturer at the school. While on the faculty there, Kagan published a law review article on the regulation of First Amendment hate speech in the wake of

13110-636: The first sitting U.S. president to publicly support same-sex marriage . Obama left office in 2017 with high approval ratings both within the United States and among foreign advisories. He continues to reside in Washington D.C. and remains politically active, campaigning for candidates in various American elections, including Biden's successful presidential bid in 2020 . Outside of politics, Obama has published three books : Dreams from My Father (1995) , The Audacity of Hope (2006), and A Promised Land (2020). His presidential library began construction in

13248-500: The first time. Despite being offered a full scholarship to Northwestern University School of Law , Obama enrolled at Harvard Law School in the fall of 1988, living in nearby Somerville, Massachusetts . He was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year, president of the journal in his second year, and research assistant to the constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe while at Harvard. During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as

13386-583: The former governor of Massachusetts, and Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. On November 6, 2012, Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him to be reelected as president. With 51.1 percent of the popular vote, Obama became the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win the majority of the popular vote twice. Obama addressed supporters and volunteers at Chicago's McCormick Place after his reelection and said: "Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in

13524-419: The full Senate. On August 5 the full Senate confirmed her nomination by a vote of 63–37. The voting was largely along party lines, with five Republicans ( Richard Lugar , Judd Gregg , Lindsey Graham , Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe ) supporting her and one Democrat (Ben Nelson) opposing. Kagan's swearing-in ceremony took place on August 7, 2010, at the White House. Chief Justice John Roberts administered

13662-489: The greatest environmental challenge of our time. So too, there is nothing special about the Plan's 'who': fossil-fuel-fired power plants. In Utility Air, we thought EPA's regulation of churches and schools highly unusual. But fossil-fuel-fired plants? Those plants pollute—a lot—and so they have long lived under the watchful eye of EPA. That was true even before EPA began regulating carbon dioxide." Kagan concluded, "The subject matter of

13800-673: The grounds of schools like Harvard. When a federal appeals court ruled The Pentagon could not withhold funds, she banned the military from Harvard's campus once again. The case was challenged in the Supreme Court, which ruled the military could indeed require schools to allow recruiters if they wanted to receive federal money. Kagan, though she allowed the military back, simultaneously urged students to demonstrate against Don't Ask, Don't Tell. In October 2003, Kagan sent an email to students and faculty deploring that military recruiters had shown up on campus in violation of this policy. The email read in part, "This action causes me deep distress. I abhor

13938-777: The health care system . Numerous candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries . The field narrowed to Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton after early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process, but Obama gained a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules. On June 2, 2008, Obama had received enough votes to clinch his nomination. After an initial hesitation to concede, on June 7, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama. On August 23, 2008, Obama announced his selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate. Obama selected Biden from

14076-610: The highest general awards the university confers. This enabled her to study at Worcester College, Oxford . As part of her graduation requirement, Kagan wrote a thesis called "The Development and Erosion of the American Exclusionary Rule: A Study in Judicial Method". It presented a critical look at the exclusionary rule and its evolution on the Supreme Court—the Warren Court , in particular. She earned

14214-633: The implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed in his first term. He negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action , a nuclear agreement with Iran, and normalized relations with Cuba . The number of American soldiers in Afghanistan decreased during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout the remainder of his presidency. Obama promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans , becoming

14352-613: The keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention , seen by nine million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party. Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan , withdrew from the race in June 2004. Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan. In the November 2004 general election , Obama won with 70 percent of

14490-573: The military's discriminatory recruitment policy". She also wrote that it was "a profound wrong—a moral injustice of the first order". From 2005 to 2008, Kagan was a member of the Research Advisory Council of the Goldman Sachs Global Markets Institute. She received a $ 10,000 stipend for her service. By early 2007, Kagan was a finalist for the presidency of Harvard University after Lawrence Summers's resignation

14628-456: The next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo Soetoro in 1980 and earning a PhD degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for ovarian and uterine cancer . Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and

14766-434: The preceding term, and considered her part of a centrist bloc, along with Roberts, Stephen Breyer , and Anthony Kennedy . Still, FiveThirtyEight observed that Kagan voted with her more liberal peers, Ginsburg and Sotomayor, over 90% of the time. Also during the 2017–18 term, Kagan most commonly agreed with Breyer; they voted together in 93% of cases. She agreed least often with Samuel Alito , in 58.82% of cases. Kagan

14904-507: The prescribed constitutional and judicial oaths of office, at which time she became the 112th justice (100th associate justice) of the Supreme Court. She is the first person appointed to the Court without any prior experience as a judge since William Rehnquist and Lewis F. Powell Jr. , who both became members in 1972. She is the fourth female justice in the court's history, and the eighth Jewish justice . Because of her service as solicitor general, Kagan recused herself from 28 out of

15042-597: The presidency. On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois . The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic, as it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his "House Divided" speech in 1858. Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence , and reforming

15180-479: The previous year. The position ultimately went to Drew Gilpin Faust instead. Kagan was reportedly disappointed, and law school students threw her a party to express their appreciation for her leadership. On January 5, 2009, President-elect Barack Obama announced he would nominate Kagan to be Solicitor General . She was vetted for the position of Deputy Attorney General before her selection as Solicitor General. At

15318-481: The rabbi," her father's colleague said. Kagan and Riskin negotiated a solution. Riskin had never performed a ritual bat mitzvah before. She "felt very strongly that there should be ritual bat mitzvah in the synagogue, no less important than the ritual bar mitzvah. This was really the first formal bat mitzvah we had", he said. Kagan asked to read from the Torah on a Saturday morning as the boys did, but ultimately read from

15456-551: The regulation here makes the Court's intervention all the more troubling. Whatever else this Court may know about, it does not have a clue about how to address climate change. And let's say the obvious: The stakes here are high. Yet the Court today prevents congressionally authorized agency action to curb power plants' carbon dioxide emissions. The Court appoints itself—instead of Congress or the expert agency—the decision-maker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening. Respectfully, I dissent." In her first term on

15594-412: The school's more outstanding students. She was elected president of the student government and served on a student-faculty consultative committee. Kagan then attended Princeton University , graduating in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts , summa cum laude , in history. She was particularly drawn to American history and archival research. She wrote a senior thesis under historian Sean Wilentz titled "To

15732-482: The seventeenth century. Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr. (1934–1982), was a married Luo Kenyan from Nyang'oma Kogelo . His last name, Obama, was derived from his Luo descent. Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa , where his father was a foreign student on a scholarship. The couple married in Wailuku, Hawaii , on February 2, 1961, six months before Obama

15870-408: The speech was viewed by over three million people worldwide. During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations. On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976. John McCain

16008-422: The state's black voting-age population by 4.1% even though the black population had already been able to elect preferred candidates before the district lines were redrawn. The increase of black voters in District 1 resulted in a decrease of black voters in other districts. The Court also struck down District 12 by a vote of 5–3 for similar shifts in its racial composition. The dissent argued that those challenging

16146-492: The time of her nomination, Kagan had never argued a case before any court. At least two previous solicitors general, Robert Bork and Kenneth Starr , had no previous Supreme Court appearances. The two main questions senators had for Kagan during her confirmation hearings were whether she would defend statutes that she personally opposed and whether she was qualified to be Solicitor General given her lack of courtroom experience. Kagan testified that she would defend laws, such as

16284-543: The time. I'm not that superstitious, so it's not like I think I necessarily have to have them on me at all times." The items, "a whole bowl full", include rosary beads given to him by Pope Francis , a figurine of the Hindu deity Hanuman , a Coptic cross from Ethiopia, a small Buddha statue given by a monk, and a metal poker chip that used to be the lucky charm of a motorcyclist in Iowa. He joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland,

16422-745: The vacancy arising from the impending retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens . The United States Senate confirmed her nomination by a vote of 63–37. As of 2022, she is the most recent justice appointed without any prior judicial experience. She favored a consensus-building approach until the conservative supermajority's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade . She has written the majority opinion in some landmark cases, such as Cooper v. Harris , Chiafalo v. Washington , and Kisor v. Wilkie , as well as several notable dissenting opinions, such as in Rucho v. Common Cause , West Virginia v. EPA , Brnovich v. DNC , Janus v. AFSCME , and Seila Law v. CFPB . Kagan

16560-432: The validity of the district had not proved that race caused the change in District 12. Kagan quoted Court precedent that race must only be a predominant consideration, and that challengers did not need to prove politics was not a motivating factor. In June 2019, Kagan dissented in Rucho v. Common Cause , a 5–4 ruling that held that partisan gerrymandering is a non-justiciable claim. Kagan wrote, "Of all times to abandon

16698-675: The vote, the largest margin of victory for a Senate candidate in Illinois history. He took 92 of the state's 102 counties, including several where Democrats traditionally do not do well. Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005, becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus . He introduced two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction concept to conventional weapons; and

16836-562: The way justices actually ruled once on the Court. He noted that Kagan published an article in the University of Chicago Law Review in 1995 in which she criticized the evasiveness she came to practice. Republican senators criticized Kagan's background as more political than judicial; she responded by promising to be impartial and fair. On July 20, 2010, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13–6 to recommend Kagan's confirmation to

16974-532: Was a forum for ordinary citizens. She argued the use of prayer showed a preference for a particular religion and thus violated Americans' First Amendment rights. Kagan dissented in Luis v. United States , 578 U.S. ___ (2016), where the five-justice majority held that the pretrial freezing of untainted assets not traced back to criminal activity was a violation of a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel when those assets were needed to retain counsel of

17112-501: Was born in Wichita, Kansas , and was of English, Welsh, German, Swiss, and Irish descent. In 2007 it was discovered her great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney emigrated from the village of Moneygall, Ireland to the U.S. in 1850. In July 2012, Ancestry.com found a strong likelihood that Dunham was descended from John Punch , an enslaved African man who lived in the Colony of Virginia during

17250-474: Was born in 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), in 2001. The Obama daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools . When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the Sidwell Friends School . The Obamas had two Portuguese Water Dogs ; the first, a male named Bo , was a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy . In 2013, Bo was joined by Sunny ,

17388-469: Was born on April 28, 1960, in Manhattan , the second of three children of Robert Kagan, an attorney who represented tenants trying to remain in their homes, and Gloria (Gittelman) Kagan, who taught at Hunter College Elementary School . Both her parents were the children of Russian Jewish immigrants. Kagan was raised in New York City. She has two brothers, Marc and Irving. Kagan and her family lived in

17526-554: Was born. In late August 1961, a few weeks after he was born, Barack and his mother moved to the University of Washington in Seattle , where they lived for a year. During that time, Barack's father completed his undergraduate degree in economics in Hawaii, graduating in June 1962. He left to attend graduate school on a scholarship at Harvard University , where he earned an M.A. in economics. Obama's parents divorced in March 1964. Obama Sr. returned to Kenya in 1964, where he married for

17664-444: Was employed at Sidley Austin . Robinson was assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, and she joined him at several group social functions but declined his initial requests to date. They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. After suffering a miscarriage, Michelle underwent in vitro fertilization to conceive their children. The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann,

17802-697: Was expected to be confirmed, with Senator John Cornyn calling her "justice-to-be". During the hearings, she demonstrated a deep knowledge of Supreme Court cases, expounding upon cases senators mentioned in their questions to her without taking notes on the questions. A number of Democratic senators criticized recent decisions of the court as "activist", but Kagan avoided joining in their criticisms. Like many prior nominees, including Chief Justice John Roberts , she declined to answer whether she thought particular cases were correctly decided or how she would vote on particular issues. Senators Jon Kyl and Arlen Specter criticized her evasiveness. Specter said it obscured

17940-597: Was joined by Breyer and Sotomayor. She would have struck down the Arizona voting laws that throw out votes that are cast out-of-precinct and ban ballot harvesting. Kagan wrote that African-American, Latino, and Native American voters are disproportionately likely to have their votes thrown out for being out-of-precinct (compared to White voters). She concluded, "The law that confronted one of this country’s most enduring wrongs; pledged to give every American, of every race, an equal chance to participate in our democracy; and now stands as

18078-525: Was much more student-focused. During her deanship, Kagan upheld a decades-old policy barring military recruiters from the Office of Career Services because she felt the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy discriminated against gays and lesbians. According to Campus Progress , As dean, Kagan supported a lawsuit intended to overturn the Solomon Amendment so military recruiters might be banned from

18216-533: Was named a full professor at Harvard Law School and in 2003 she was named dean of the Law School by Harvard University President Lawrence Summers . She succeeded Robert C. Clark , who had served as dean for over a decade. The focus of her tenure was on improving student satisfaction. Efforts included constructing new facilities and reforming the first-year curriculum as well as aesthetic changes and creature comforts, such as free morning coffee. She has been credited for

18354-574: Was nominated as the Republican candidate, and he selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. Obama and McCain engaged in three presidential debates in September and October 2008. On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain. Obama won 52.9 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7 percent. He became the first African-American to be elected president. Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant Park . He

18492-428: Was politically restrained in her dealings with fellow reporters. Her Daily Princetonian colleague Steven Bernstein has said he "cannot recall a time in which Kagan expressed her political views". He described Kagan's political stances as "sort of liberal, democratic, progressive tradition, and everything with lower case". In 1980, Kagan received Princeton's Daniel M. Sachs Class of 1960 Graduating Scholarship, one of

18630-634: Was the circuit justice , the justice responsible for handling emergency requests, for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits . After Brett Kavanaugh 's confirmation, she was assigned to the Ninth Circuit , the largest circuit court by area. It includes Alaska , Arizona , California , Guam , Hawaii , Idaho , Oregon , Montana , Nevada , the Northern Mariana Islands , and Washington state . Like other justices, Kagan makes public appearances when she

18768-513: Was the subject of media speculation as a potential Supreme Court nominee if a Democratic president were elected in 2008. Obama had his first Supreme Court vacancy to fill in 2009 when Associate Justice David H. Souter announced his upcoming retirement. Senior Obama adviser David Axelrod later recounted that during the search for a new justice, Antonin Scalia told him he hoped Obama would nominate Kagan, because of her intelligence. On May 13, 2009,

18906-511: Was to act as the lawyer for the United States and defend legislation and executive actions in appeals before the Supreme Court. Thus the arguments she made as Solicitor General were not necessarily indicative of her personal beliefs. Kagan's first appearance before the Supreme Court was on September 9, 2009, one month before the typical start of a new term in October, in the re-argument of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , 558 U.S. 310 (2010). During argument, she asked

19044-541: Was what income a debtor could shield from creditors in bankruptcy. In an 8–1 decision, Kagan's opinion for the majority held that the Chapter 13 Bankruptcy statute prevents a debtor from taking an allowance for car-related expenses where the debtor owns the car outright and does not make loan or lease payments. She reasoned the word "applicable" was key to the statute, and debtors could only take allowances for car-related costs that applied to them. Kagan's first dissent came in

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